


keep the past away

by jayhood



Category: Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Amnesia, Gen, Iceberg Lounge, Not Canon Compliant, ric grayson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23318461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayhood/pseuds/jayhood
Summary: From all the people of Dick Grayson’s past, Jason Todd was the shadiest. Of course, Ric didn’t trust him.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd
Comments: 10
Kudos: 128





	keep the past away

From all the people of Dick Grayson’s past, Jason Todd was the shadiest.  _ Of course _ , Ric didn’t trust him.

“Maybe you’re even not him,” he gestured with the glass of whiskey the bartender poured him at the barest nod of this ‘Jason’.

Some perks to be had while drinking with the casino owner, Ric mused, were definitely top-notch service, and  _ really _ good stuff.

“Maybe,” he continued his thought, “you are an impostor looking to fleece the moneybag Wayne. I mean, everyone thought you were dead, as far as media concerned, and five years later, you show up out of blue, taking over the property of well-known big-time criminal. Who does that?”

“Me,” the man deadpanned. “Twice. The first one was just more low-key, family affair only.”

“Really?”

Todd looked him dead in the eye and said with utter seriousness:

“No. You got me. You are so smart, never would have thought you’re still recovering from brain trauma. Really intelligent choice telling a guy you suspect of something this high-stakes, that you’re onto him. And drinking what he gives you.”

Ric shrugged.

“What are you going to do, poison me? Drug me?”

“Yes,” Todd answered slowly, still looking at him blank-faced. Incredilousness wasn’t shown but, Ric felt, implied. “It could happen. You were literally targeted to be dosed with a new batch of fear gas just two hours ago.”

“Not me,” Ric muttered into his glass. “ _ Him _ .”

“Whatever your thoughts are on your ongoing identity crisis, 'Dick’ and 'Ric’ share the same body. You are who people gonna find when they look for Dick.”

“What _ ever _ ,” Ric said and downed the rest of whiskey.

Todd sighed and motioned to the bartender for another.

“I know what you’re going through,” he said.

“Oh, great. You’re just like the rest of  _ them _ .”

Ric honestly thought he was going to be different. Firstly, Todd wasn’t there when he woke up, freaking out, with all his life, his family just gone, with strangers in their place. Strangers who looked at him with pity, at first, and then tried to guilt-trip him into staying with them.

Secondly, even when Todd knocked out Ric’s shrink, who turned out to be the  _ Scarecrow  _ holy  _ shit _ , he didn’t look like he was all that concerned about Ric. Or there for him at all. Turned out, he was there for Crane, and Ric was only a convenient way to track him down.

But now came the attempt to bond.

“No,” Todd said. “I  _ literally  _ know what are you going through. I had full amnesia, too. And when I found out how did it happen, and who I was - I did not want to continue down that path. And then someone from my past life came after me, for reasons that don’t have anything to do with who I was or what I was doing at the time.”

He went quiet.

“So?” Ric prompted him.

“Eventually, I had to get my memories back.”

“Did you want to?”

“ _ Had  _ to. Though wanted too, I guess, otherwise it wouldn’t work. But now… I kinda envy you.”

“I’m broke, homeless, without a job, without education…” Ric listed.

“You’re free,” Todd replied simply.

“You know there’s an easier way to deal with your baggage, right? Like therapy?”

“Seriously. After Scarecrow.”

Yeah, Todd got him there.

“Anyway,” Todd continued. “I can do for you what nobody could for me. Keep the past away.”

Ric snorted.

“You’re the past, too. Aren’t you?”

It was Todd’s turn to shrug.

“Not really.”

“Aw, were we engrossed in a long-standing sibling rivalry?”

“No, we weren’t… Like that.”

Ric knew his grin turned what they would call 'shit-eating’.

“Forbidden love?”

He wiggled his eyebrows.

Todd chocked on air.

“What, no. I meant we weren’t  _ brothers _ . You talked to me, like,  _ twice  _ before I died. And then I wasn’t living at ho… At Manor anymore. So.”

“So you didn’t know him? Dick?”

“I saw him once last year. He had helped me with a case that involved a circus.”

Ric hummed. It was maybe the whiskey speaking, but it sounded okay so far.

“Alright,” he said. “I’m listening.”


End file.
